Hungry Eye 50 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine from left: meaghan maurice; adam flood; amy wilton Should guests request the Chef’s Tasting Menu, they should hang on for a delicious ride. “I’ll grab a purée from this dish, a vin- aigrette from that dish, some vegetables from another entrée. It ends up being a col- lection of little bits and pieces of different menu items transformed into something new.” This spontaneity means you’re likely to see a dish once–and only once. “We don’t do the same thing over and over again. It tends to be similar people who come back for this experience, so we try to give them something they haven’t seen before,” Rob- inson says. “It’s great fun. On occasion, if it’s a crazy busy night, it can be a little dif- ficult for us to stop and clear our heads and think, ‘What can we come up with right now?’ But on a mellow weeknight, it gives us a chance to be creative and try out some- thing we’ve read about or seen.” Happy accidents Some chefs find last-minute menu ventures exhilarating–others less so. “The thing is, I try not to have that happen,” says Adam Flood, Executive Chef at Grace. It’s stress- ful enough making sure the food ordered from the menu is perfect, let alone cook- ing off-the-cuff. That’s not to say he’s never been pushed to improvise. “I’ve had a few happy accidents in the kitchen,” Flood says. “I remember making king oyster mushroom confit, which can be But as for her daily menu? “That’s play- time. I have a firm belief that if you’re start- ing with the best ingredients, then it’s go- ing to be good. How do you screw up some- thing fantastic in its simplest form?” Wolfertz’s musings bring to mind the words of the queen of kitchen improvisa- tion, Ms. Julia Child: “In cooking, you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” The Art of Spontaneity L et’s say 20 pounds of matsutake mushrooms show up after an eve- ning’s menu has already been laid out. What next? “I jumped to serve them that night,” Nate Nadeau, Fore Street’s Chef de Cuisine says. “They were the first of the season. We cleaned them up and made a compound butter. They’re really piney, so we used juniper and some sumac one of our foragers had brought in that day.” Using ingredients caught, raised, grown, and foraged throughout Maine from the likes of Four Winds Farm in Lis- bon, Nadeau and his line cooks are already working with the best paints on the palette, but what happens on the canvas each night is even more impressive. “We write our menu here every day,” he says. “That’s the function of our restaurant. Our crew is here every morning prepping from the ground up for that evening’s meals. We have an idea of what’s coming at us every night as far as proteins and produce, but it changes throughout the afternoon.” With ingredi- ents arriving until the very last minute, the team at Fore Street has to be prepared for Nadeau’s last-minute decisions and inspira- tions. “The people who help us execute this have skills that you don’t necessarily learn in culinary school.” Sizzling Improv Working under pressure while staying in- novative is bound to result in some off- script moments, so why not make a menu for them? The Chef’s Tasting Menu at Five Fifty-Five on Congress Street, owned by Steve and Michelle Corry, is the perfect outlet for that creative energy. “It allows us to have a little fun with some extra ingredi- ents we have in-house–something cool we saw at the Farmer’s Market we can only get in smaller quantities,” says Chef Kyle Rob- inson. “We have quite a bit of fun with it.” Looking at a collection of ingredients for tonight’s meal, Robinson envisions his tast- ing menu. “I’ll start the seven-course menu off with a scallop crudo with apple-and-ci- lantro aguachile, fennel, and chorizo oil, then a local chicken liver pâté with grape jam, fermented grapes, husk cherries, and house-made brioche.” And that’s just the be- ginning. A sweet potato agnolotti and but- ternut squash may make an appearance, along with seared scallops, cauliflower pu- rée, roasted romanesco with a sauce of ha- zelnuts, capers, and red wine. To finish it all off? “A date cake with figs, mascarpone mousse, and tahini ice cream.” If one dish proves particularly popular, there’s a chance it’ll find a spot on the permanent menu. “I was making king oyster mushroom confit. I left them in the oven at 350 for four hours. When stuff like that happens, it feels like a horrible pit in your stomach.You want to puke, to be honest. I enjoy the art of perfection.” – Adam Flood, Grace This page: Kyle Robinson of Five Fifty-Five whips up seared scallops with hazelnuts,capers,roasted and pickled cauliflower, and wild rice romanesco accented with red wine sauce.Opposite page: (above)Adam Flood’s “accidental” crispy king oyster mushrooms with black garlic aioli and shaved burgundy truffles at Grace; (below) Halibut with cauliflower and potatoes at Melody Wolfertz’s Rockland restaurant,In Good Company.